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Friday, March 6, 2015

Rest

As a wife and mother, it can be hard to make time for myself. Most days, I’m pouring into others and giving it my all, but there is little time leftover for me. As a woman, I find that we often neglect our own needs because of two reasons.

The first reason is that we think that we will be selfish if we ask for help or time alone to refuel. We think…“It’s my duty to take care of my family.”“My husband works all week, how can I ask Him?”“There must be something wrong with me if I can’t do it all.”

The second reason is that sometimes our own pride can get in the way. We aren’t willing to ask for help or take time for ourself because we are too controlling. We might think…“I’m the only one that can do it.”“It won’t be done right unless I do it.”“I want to be able to do it all…I’m suppose to be superwoman, right?”

I’m certain that both of these reasons are lies that our enemy loves to feed us. He wants us to feel bad for asking for help, or needing time for ourself. The enemy loves to feed our pride, thinking that we can do it all and have it all together.

Here’s the thing, God didn’t make us to do all things. He created us with a specific purpose. He wants us to be intentional with our time, our gifts and talents, and with the people who are a part of our lives. It requires us to make intentional choices. Choices that don’t look like Jane’s, Stephanie’s or Amy’s, but our own. He also wants us to rest. If you are like me sometimes its hard to stop and rest with a laundry list of things to do. However, it’s important that we be intentional about scheduling time to rest in our life.

Over the years, I’ve learned many things about myself.I’m an introvert. The way I find rest is time by myself. That can be hard to come by when I’m surrounded by people all day long. Fridays are my day to rest. My kids go to a drop-off homeschool program and I’m able to have that much needed “alone time” to refuel and be refreshed.

Over the years, I’ve learned that it is really important to ask for help. Just because I’m a stay-at-home-mom, doesn’t mean that the house and everything that goes with it is only my responsibility. 3 other people live in my house and we work as a team to keep things running smoothly.

The more prepared I am, the better my day goes. There is something to be said about how being organized and prepared sets a mood of peace and harmony in my house. I get so much more accomplished and handle the unexpected more gracefully than when I’m not organized or prepared for the day. No one likes psycho mom, who is frantic and impatient because she isn’t ready for the day!

Although I’ve learned a few things about myself over the years, there is still more I need to work on. Here’s what I’m currently working on…~Putting down the technology…it can be more of a drain, than restful.~Getting up early in the morning, before the kids are awake, so that I can have my quiet time with God and ponder the day. This one is a hard one for me, since I’m not a morning person.~Make rest a priority for our family on Sundays. We all need down time and time to refuel, by allowing there to be white space on the calendar.